FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT JASON PETERS - PAGE 5

IN 1998, the Eagles were 3-13 and placed nobody on the NFC Pro Bowl team. Fifteen seasons later, for only the third time since the postseason accolades began in 1951, the Eagles have been shut out again. The Birds were among eight NFL teams with no selections announced last night at the conclusion of a mysterious process that currently involves players, fans and coaches. There is an extremely slim chance the 2012 Eagles will not stay shut out, when all is said and done. A source close to the situation said left guard Evan Mathis is a third alternate for the NFC team.

The NFL Network wrapped up its Top 100 Players of 2013 series on Thursday night, and its almost complete shunning of the Philadelphia Eagles is now history. Perhaps deservedly so, after a 4-12 season that got head coach Andy Reid fired. Only one Eagles player made the list, running back LeSean McCoy at No. 45. That's way down from 2012, when the list included seven players: McCoy at No. 18, tackle Jason Peters at 42, defensive ends Jason Babin and Trent Cole at 44 and 57, quarterback Michael Vick at 70, wideout DeSean Jackson at 71, and cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha at 79. Peters had a good excuse: He missed last season because of a twice-ruptured Achilles tendon.

Eagles offensive tackle Jason Peters is suing the maker of a modified crutch and walker he was using during his rehab from a ruptured Achilles tendon, claiming he would have returned to play this season had the device not broken and caused him to reinjure himself. Attorneys for the five-time Pro Bowler filed suit against the Roll-A-Bout corporation Thursday morning, alleging strict liability, breach of warranties, and negligence. According to the complaint, Peters began using Roll-A-Bout's crutch and walker alternative, the SW-T-500 model, soon after undergoing surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon in April.

Eagles guard Evan Mathis recently underwent surgery to "clean out" his left ankle and could miss the rest of spring practices, an NFL source said. The source called the surgery "minor. " Mathis played most of last season with an ankle injury - he started every game - and was slated to undergo surgery once the offseason began. The Eagles decided the procedure was unnecessary, but recent swelling and discomfort in the ankle prompted the team to reconsider. He is expected to be ready by the start of training camp in late July.

The Eagles had four players named to the all-pro second team by the Associated Press: Linebacker Connor Barwin, defensive lineman Fletcher Cox, tackle Jason Peters, and returner Darren Sproles. Barwin led the NFC with 141/2 sacks and fell two votes shy of first-team all-pro linebacker Elvis Dumervil of the Baltimore Ravens. Dumervil finished the season with 83 tackles, 141/2 sacks, 21 hurries, and two forced fumbles. Cox did not make the Pro Bowl, which surprised Eagles coach Chip Kelly.

JEFF STOUTLAND is the Eagles' offensive line coach. He grew up in New York. There is a street smartness about him that becomes obvious in about 30 seconds. He says he looks at players in his business but he also looks at people. "Your demeanor and how you go about every day is just huge, it's huge," Stoutland said. This is a man who says he prefers to coach physically, demonstrating techniques at the front of the meeting room where players put their hands on him and vice versa. He pegs the classroom-lecture attention span of the average player at about 10 minutes.

MOBILE, Ala. - The Eagles will have questions at quarterback next season, but the health of their offensive line will be equally worrisome. Three of their starters on the line, including all-pro left tackle Jason Peters, will be trying to bounce back from season-ending injuries. And two of them - Peters and right tackle Todd Herremans - will be 31 this year. The situation screams for the Eagles to select a lineman early in the draft, possibly with the fourth overall pick. For the first time in 14 years, the team entered Senior Bowl week with a high draft pick, but none of the prospects projected to go in the top five, or even the top 10, were scheduled to be in Alabama.

These are the moves that defined the Eagles' offseason. We're attempting to rank them by importance: 1 The trade for DeMeco Ryans: If you said the signing of Demetress Bell to replace left tackle Jason Peters was really the most important move of the offseason, you might be right in a strict football sense, but if you're talking about intangibles, about calming the smoldering outrage of the fan base, Ryans has to be No. 1. For so long, the...

As far as alarms go, the Eagles' failure to address their depth at offensive line and inside linebacker in last week's NFL draft hardly rang a bell. They return all five players from one the league's best lines and both starting inside linebackers. And although they had opportunities to upgrade at each position this offseason, the Eagles were confident about their returners. They saw the need to inject some young talent into the pipeline, but they didn't. "Dagger," general manager Howie Roseman said about not drafting any offensive linemen. "Dagger in the heart.

Howard Mudd was trying to think of the free-agent tackle, the one the Eagles were forced to sign after Jason Peters ruptured his Achilles tendon before the 2012 season. "The guy from Buffalo . . . Demetress Bell," Mudd finally recalled. "Oops, that didn't work out. " The former Eagles offensive line coach, now retired, was going through some of the combinations of linemen he was forced to insert into the lineup after four (!) of five starters were injured last season. Mudd wasn't complaining.